Microsoft Office Clipboard Not to be confused with the standard Windows Clipboard, this feature allows you to hold up to 24 items on the clipboard when cutting and pasting within an Office application or between Office applications. This article covers the following: About the Office and Windows Clipboards Using the Office Clipboard Paste Options Gallery Don t forget about Drag and Drop About The Office and Windows Clipboards Windows Clipboard I m sure that even if you are the most basic user of Office and Windows, you will be familiar with the concept of the Windows clipboard which holds data when you use the CUT, COPY and PASTE commands to move or copy data (text, objects, files, etc) in any of the Windows applications. The Windows Clipboard only stores the last item cut or copied to it from any Microsoft Windows application, so as soon as you Copy or Cut a piece of data, any item you previously cut or copied is replaced on the clipboard, regardless of whether or not you have Pasted it. Office Clipboard This is separate from the Windows Clipboard and here are some key points to know about it: It stores the last 24 items cut or copied to it from any Office application. Any of the items on the Office Clipboard can be pasted to any other Office application at any time in the current Windows session, as long as an Office application is open. The Office Clipboard can only hold 24 items. If a 25th is cut or copied to the Office Clipboard then the first item is lost and so on. Although the Windows and Office clipboards are separate, they share some functionality. For example, when multiple items are copied to the Office Clipboard, the last item is always copied to the Windows Clipboard as well automatically. Page 1 of 5
When all items are cleared from the Office Clipboard, the Windows Clipboard is also cleared. The collected items remain on the Office Clipboard (unless you clear them) until all Office applications running on the computer are closed. Using the Office Clipboard The Office Clipboard is not automatically used when you first open an Office Application. To copy items to the Office Clipboard, the Clipboard Task Pane of an Office program must be open (it is possible to set options to use the Office Clipboard automatically, without displaying the task pane this is covered further below). On the HOME tab, in the CLIPBOARD group, click the launcher. The Office Clipboard task pane is displayed. NOTE: in Outlook, the clipboard group is on the Message tab in the message window. If the Clipboard pane is opened in one Office application, the Clipboard does not automatically appear in another Office application. However, items copied from other Office applications will continue to be copied to the Office clipboard. A message is displayed above the Windows Task Bar to indicate an item has been added to the Office Clipboard. Page 2 of 5
Office Clipboard Options Use the options button at the bottom of the clipboard task pane to control how the office clipboard behaves. If Collect without Showing Office Clipboard is selected, all items copied or cut in Office applications will automatically be collected to the Office Clipboard, regardless of whether the Task Pane is displayed in any application. Paste Options Gallery The Paste Options gallery makes it easier to paste information into a document in the correct format. The Paste Options gallery is available in three places: The Ribbon Page 3 of 5
Right-Click Context Menu PASTE OPTIONS GALLERY The Paste Options gallery appears immediately after a paste. The Paste Options gallery includes Live Preview; hovering the mouse pointer over each paste option gives a preview in the document of the content with its formatting. The contents of the Paste Options gallery are contextual. They change based on what has been copied and where the content is being pasted. For example, copying some data from Excel will give a different set of paste options in Word from copying and pasting text just in Word. The first option in the gallery is always the default paste option. The Keep Text Only option, when included in the Paste Options gallery, is always the last item in the gallery. After using the [CTRL]+[V] shortcut, press [CTRL] again to drop-down the Paste Options gallery and select a different Paste option. Don t Forget About Drag and Drop Don t forget that you can move or copy text and other objects within a document, or even between documents or applications, just by selecting them and then simply dragging. Select the text or object to be moved. Point to the selection, click and hold the left mouse button. Drag the selection to the new location and drop it by releasing the mouse button. Page 4 of 5
NOTE: Sometimes, for example when copying files to a different drive, the default action when dragging is to copy. You can tell if this is the case because a plus symbol will appear next to the mouse pointer whilst dragging. To enforce move rather than copy, hold down the [SHIFT] key whilst dragging. Drag-and-drop copying Select the text or object to be copied. Point to the selection, press and hold [CTRL], click and hold the left mouse button. Drag the selection to the new location and drop it by releasing the mouse button (make sure you release the mouse before the [CTRL] key). Moving and Copying Data via the Windows Clipboard (This example assumes you are moving/copying data in Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2013) To move data via the clipboard: Select the required data Click the Home, Clipboard, Cut or press [CTRL]+[X] to cut the selected data to the Clipboard. The data will be removed from the document. Select the new location and click Home, Clipboard, insert the last item on the Office Clipboard. or press [CTRL]+[V] to To copy text via the Clipboard: Click Home, Clipboard, or press [CTRL]+[C] to copy selected data to the Clipboard. The data remains in the document Select the new location and click Home, Clipboard, insert the last item on the Office Clipboard. or press [CTRL]+[V] to Page 5 of 5